Street Cred: Wired(less)

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Street Cred: Wired(less)

When the Supreme Court announced its landmark ruling overturning the Communications Decency Act in June, Metricom's

Ricochet wireless modem played an important role in getting the word out. Less than 10 minutes after the verdict was handed down, the ruling's full text was uploaded to the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition's Web site from my laptop. This information became instantly available via the Ricochet wireless ISP.

No gimmicks here – this service is truly amazing. At up to 28.8 Kbps, Ricochet provides fast, reliable, and secure (spread-spectrum transmissions encrypted with RSA RC4) access to the Net from anywhere in Metricom's service area.

Ricochet has brought virtually mind-blowing freedom to my life. With this device strapped onto the back of my PowerBook, I can browse Web pages from the halls of Capitol Hill. You can't do that with a plain old telephone line.

If the product has any down side, it's the limited availability. But if you can get your hands on one, you will never put it down.